Restored Pink Floyd at Pompeii and new Adrian Maben Floyd documentary at Montreal Film Festival

Pinknik · Oct 6, 2016

Lownote30 said: ↑

Uhhhh, no. Echoes was not played in two pieces at Pompeii.
Click to expand...

Sounds like it. The band winds down to a full stop at the end of part 1. Why do that if it's one performance?

Hymie the Robot · Oct 6, 2016

vudicus said: ↑

I don't know about the quad, but it's quite possible.
Click to expand...

Thanks. That would be great.

Further · Oct 6, 2016

Lownote30 said: ↑

Uhhhh, no. Echoes was not played in two pieces at Pompeii.
Click to expand...

Uhhhh, yes it was. You might want to do some research on the film.

dkmonroe · Oct 6, 2016

Pinknik said: ↑

Sounds like it. The band winds down to a full stop at the end of part 1. Why do that if it's one performance?
Click to expand...

I don't see the "winding down" part as being necessarily a "full stop." The studio recording has the funky jam part fade out before the whales start calling, and you can't do that live, so at some point Roger would have to bring thing to a stop and then pick up a bottle so he can start that woo-woo thing on the bass.

This isn't to say that I'm denying that the film performance was two pieces - I trust those who insist it is - but it wouldn't have sounded much different if it was one take.

Pinknik · Oct 6, 2016

dkmonroe said: ↑

I don't see the "winding down" part as being necessarily a "full stop." The studio recording has the funky jam part fade out before the whales start calling, and you can't do that live, so at some point Roger would have to bring thing to a stop and then pick up a bottle so he can start that woo-woo thing on the bass.

This isn't to say that I'm denying that the film performance was two pieces - I trust those who insist it is - but it wouldn't have sounded much different if it was one take.
Click to expand...

I wasn't there, of course, it just sounds abrupt to me, unlike the BBC performance, for instance. Based on some youtube clips I could find, from 1971-5, they would slowly take instruments out of the jam until it was just guitar and slowly start to bring up the droning sound. Kind of a live cross-fade.

Lownote30 · Oct 6, 2016

Pinknik said: ↑

I wasn't there, of course, it just sounds abrupt to me, unlike the BBC performance, for instance. Based on some youtube clips I could find, from 1971-5, they would slowly take instruments out of the jam until it was just guitar and slowly start to bring up the droning sound. Kind of a live cross-fade.
Click to expand...

Well, I guess we'll find out when the box set with the two pieces hooked together comes out. If it sounds natural with no edit, then it was played as one piece.

Lownote30 · Oct 6, 2016

Further said: ↑

Uhhhh, yes it was. You might want to do some research on the film.
Click to expand...

I've researched as much as anyone can regarding the film, and I've never seen anything that says Echoes was played in two pieces. If it was, that would be the only time they it played live that way.

Big Pasi · Oct 7, 2016

Doesn't it have a clear edit point when they start the "blues"-section?

carlfritz · Aug 3, 2017

bodhisattva said: ↑

Man, I've been dying to post this for months...

First to get the less exciting of these two bits of information out there first:

There will be a free outdoor screening of the restored 1974 version of Pink Floyd at Pompeii at the Festival de Nouveau Cinema in Montreal on October 10th at 7pm. This version comes from Adrian Maben's personal 35mm copy of the film, which was transferred to HDCAM SR and restored using the ArchAngel Ph.C HD at Vectracom in Paris. I've seen the tape and it looks fantastic, and the film is presented in it's original 4:3 aspect ratio. There were two soundtracks on the tape, a two channel stereo, and a 4 channel LCRS, which I didn't know existed and is different from the quadraphonic mix of the film. I'm not sure which one they'll use at the screening, but the fidelity of both is very good. Adrian himself will be in attendance to present the film, as well.

The more exciting news is that Adrian has prepared a new Pink Floyd documentary called Chit Chat With Oysters, which will screen for the first time at the same festival, on Oct 11th at 9pm and again on the 14th at 1pm. This documentary is culled from black and white footage shot in December 1971 at the Europa-Sonor studio in Paris, when the band was mixing and overdubbing the Pompeii multitrack. You will have seen about 8 minutes of this footage in the Director's Cut DVD of Pompeii, but this new documentary runs almost 60 minutes long.

I worked for a company that does film scanning and grading, and in December of last year through a series of wonderful coincidences, I was put in touch with Adrian through an intermediary after mentioning to someone that I'd be happy to do some of that kind of work for free in order to learn how to use some of the equipment we had. When I got a message saying that this person had 'a contact with some rare Pink Floyd film', I was expecting that I might scan some bootleg 8mm or 16mm concert film from the 70's, but within a week I was speaking to Adrian on the phone, and he was telling me he had 5 rusty cans of professionally shot black and white 16mm reversal film of Pink Floyd in the studio in the early 70's that he had found while cleaning his Paris apartment. I explained to him that I was still learning to use the equipment and that while I had a good eye, it would take me some time to complete the job because I was not only new to using the equipment, but also that I'd have to do the work on evenings and weekends outside of my regular working hours. I probably don't have to say how exciting of an opportunity this is, and I think he could sense that in me - I remember him saying 'I have every confidence in you' several times in those early days.

So in January 2013, Adrian came over on the Eurostar to London with his suitcase of old cans of film and left them with me. It's a bit scary holding something so precious in your hands, but I was determined to treat this footage with the care it deserved. I called in every favour I had at work and first had all the footage ultrasonically cleaned and all the splices fixed. Adrian had cut the rushes to ribbons in 1971 to make a short 15 minute bit of reportage that was shown on French television, and when he was done, he spliced everything together as an afterthought because he couldn't bear to throw the footage away, even though it seemed like it would have no use. In 2013, all the tape used for the splices was sticky and falling apart, and needed to be replaced.

I scanned the film at full 2K resolution on a Spirit 2K scanner over the course of two days, and then spent almost every free evening and weekend I had for the next 2 months grading the film using a Baselight grading system. Part of the reason for the length of time it took was obviously my inexperience with the equipment (I'd only worked on my grandparents wedding film and a few other bits before this) but the main reason was that I spent an inordinate amount of time with every single shot, until I was convinced it was as perfect as possible. The Baselight system has a cornucopia of tools that allowed me to get the most out of the film and surgically fix any of the shortcomings in the source material, which were mild at best - the film is shot and lit very well, and the results, I think, are stunning. I showed much of my work to some of our senior staff just to make sure I was on the right track.

Now about the film, you're probably saying 'I saw the black and white footage in the Pompeii Director's Cut and it didn't look that great', and you're totally right. It appears that when that transfer was done in 2000, it was just a 'one light' which means the entire film is transferred without any compensation for changes in exposure etc. It was also cropped from it's original 4:3 aspect ratio to 16:9 along with the rest of the film in the directors cut version. The end result is that the footage looks terrible - the blacks aren't dark black, and the whites aren't bright white, everything just looks grey. Most of the interviews were originally framed really tightly, and as you see on the Directors Cut DVD, this results in shots where all you can see is the eyes and nose of the person that's talking, with the mouth and top of the head cropped off by the 16:9 aspect ratio. When I transferred the film, I did it as zoomed out as possible, and then cropped the film gate out of the shots one at a time so that the maximum amount of picture information was retained. I prevailed upon Adrian to keep the film at 4:3 just as the source material was, and he agreed, so what you're seeing is exactly what was on the original negative.

I haven't seen the finished film yet, but the rushes are amazing, and capture the band at a pivotal moment in their career. In addition to the band's lunch in the studio canteen which you've seen some of in the Director's Cut, Adrian conducted in-depth interviews with each member of the band and got some amazing insight in to the mindsets of the band by being in turns friendly and likeable and then also insightful, incisive and probing. You really get a sense of the different band members personalities at the time: Rick - the thinker, Nick - the joker, David - the everyman, and Roger - the enigma. Unlike the colour interviews with the band from Abbey Road in 1973 that find them either a bit high or determined to obfuscate, the interviews in this film, and the footage of the band working (and playing) in the studio are incredibly real and honest and show a band both incredibly focused but also still having fun.

Gosh, I've written a lot, but if anyone has any questions about either this film or the Pompeii film, I'd be happy to answer them. I spent a lot of time with Adrian when we were working on this and asked him tons of technical questions about the film and the band, so I'd be happy to pass on any knowledge I can. I kind of feel like 'long time listener, first time caller' with this post. Perhaps a few interesting facts to start things off:

1. The Pompeii multitracks still exist. According to Adrian, they were in his possession for a long time, and then Roger Waters asked for the tapes at some point, and still has them. Adrian believes they are in a vault somewhere in Los Angeles.

2. The main reason for the rear projection shots in Pompeii is that they ran out of film in Pompeii and the financiers would not spring for any more film stock. Adrian knew that once they got back to Paris and showed the investors the half-filmed versions of the songs that they'd have to put more money in to the project to finish the shoot, which they did.

3. Chit Chat With Oysters contains the only Pompeii outtake known to exist - a 4 minute continuous tracking shot around the band and amplifiers during the instrumental part of Echoes, Part 1. The shot moves in the opposite direction of the shot in the Pompeii film, which leads me to believe this is an alternate performance as well. Unfortunately this is the only one that was in the rushes, I believe Adrian had this footage made (converted from 35mm colour to 16mm black and white) for the short Pompeii reportage segment that was aired on French TV in 1972.
View attachment 291850
Click to expand...

Please contact me, I am very much intrigued by your work and this story and would like to discuss this a bit further. I have a lot of questions on this and hopefully hear from you.

I am excited to talk Live at Pompeii!

polchik · Aug 3, 2017

bodhisattva said: ↑

Man, I've been dying to post this for months...

First to get the less exciting of these two bits of information out there first:

There will be a free outdoor screening of the restored 1974 version of Pink Floyd at Pompeii at the Festival de Nouveau Cinema in Montreal on October 10th at 7pm. This version comes from Adrian Maben's personal 35mm copy of the film, which was transferred to HDCAM SR and restored using the ArchAngel Ph.C HD at Vectracom in Paris. I've seen the tape and it looks fantastic, and the film is presented in it's original 4:3 aspect ratio. There were two soundtracks on the tape, a two channel stereo, and a 4 channel LCRS, which I didn't know existed and is different from the quadraphonic mix of the film. I'm not sure which one they'll use at the screening, but the fidelity of both is very good. Adrian himself will be in attendance to present the film, as well.

The more exciting news is that Adrian has prepared a new Pink Floyd documentary called Chit Chat With Oysters, which will screen for the first time at the same festival, on Oct 11th at 9pm and again on the 14th at 1pm. This documentary is culled from black and white footage shot in December 1971 at the Europa-Sonor studio in Paris, when the band was mixing and overdubbing the Pompeii multitrack. You will have seen about 8 minutes of this footage in the Director's Cut DVD of Pompeii, but this new documentary runs almost 60 minutes long.

I worked for a company that does film scanning and grading, and in December of last year through a series of wonderful coincidences, I was put in touch with Adrian through an intermediary after mentioning to someone that I'd be happy to do some of that kind of work for free in order to learn how to use some of the equipment we had. When I got a message saying that this person had 'a contact with some rare Pink Floyd film', I was expecting that I might scan some bootleg 8mm or 16mm concert film from the 70's, but within a week I was speaking to Adrian on the phone, and he was telling me he had 5 rusty cans of professionally shot black and white 16mm reversal film of Pink Floyd in the studio in the early 70's that he had found while cleaning his Paris apartment. I explained to him that I was still learning to use the equipment and that while I had a good eye, it would take me some time to complete the job because I was not only new to using the equipment, but also that I'd have to do the work on evenings and weekends outside of my regular working hours. I probably don't have to say how exciting of an opportunity this is, and I think he could sense that in me - I remember him saying 'I have every confidence in you' several times in those early days.

So in January 2013, Adrian came over on the Eurostar to London with his suitcase of old cans of film and left them with me. It's a bit scary holding something so precious in your hands, but I was determined to treat this footage with the care it deserved. I called in every favour I had at work and first had all the footage ultrasonically cleaned and all the splices fixed. Adrian had cut the rushes to ribbons in 1971 to make a short 15 minute bit of reportage that was shown on French television, and when he was done, he spliced everything together as an afterthought because he couldn't bear to throw the footage away, even though it seemed like it would have no use. In 2013, all the tape used for the splices was sticky and falling apart, and needed to be replaced.

I scanned the film at full 2K resolution on a Spirit 2K scanner over the course of two days, and then spent almost every free evening and weekend I had for the next 2 months grading the film using a Baselight grading system. Part of the reason for the length of time it took was obviously my inexperience with the equipment (I'd only worked on my grandparents wedding film and a few other bits before this) but the main reason was that I spent an inordinate amount of time with every single shot, until I was convinced it was as perfect as possible. The Baselight system has a cornucopia of tools that allowed me to get the most out of the film and surgically fix any of the shortcomings in the source material, which were mild at best - the film is shot and lit very well, and the results, I think, are stunning. I showed much of my work to some of our senior staff just to make sure I was on the right track.

Now about the film, you're probably saying 'I saw the black and white footage in the Pompeii Director's Cut and it didn't look that great', and you're totally right. It appears that when that transfer was done in 2000, it was just a 'one light' which means the entire film is transferred without any compensation for changes in exposure etc. It was also cropped from it's original 4:3 aspect ratio to 16:9 along with the rest of the film in the directors cut version. The end result is that the footage looks terrible - the blacks aren't dark black, and the whites aren't bright white, everything just looks grey. Most of the interviews were originally framed really tightly, and as you see on the Directors Cut DVD, this results in shots where all you can see is the eyes and nose of the person that's talking, with the mouth and top of the head cropped off by the 16:9 aspect ratio. When I transferred the film, I did it as zoomed out as possible, and then cropped the film gate out of the shots one at a time so that the maximum amount of picture information was retained. I prevailed upon Adrian to keep the film at 4:3 just as the source material was, and he agreed, so what you're seeing is exactly what was on the original negative.

I haven't seen the finished film yet, but the rushes are amazing, and capture the band at a pivotal moment in their career. In addition to the band's lunch in the studio canteen which you've seen some of in the Director's Cut, Adrian conducted in-depth interviews with each member of the band and got some amazing insight in to the mindsets of the band by being in turns friendly and likeable and then also insightful, incisive and probing. You really get a sense of the different band members personalities at the time: Rick - the thinker, Nick - the joker, David - the everyman, and Roger - the enigma. Unlike the colour interviews with the band from Abbey Road in 1973 that find them either a bit high or determined to obfuscate, the interviews in this film, and the footage of the band working (and playing) in the studio are incredibly real and honest and show a band both incredibly focused but also still having fun.

Gosh, I've written a lot, but if anyone has any questions about either this film or the Pompeii film, I'd be happy to answer them. I spent a lot of time with Adrian when we were working on this and asked him tons of technical questions about the film and the band, so I'd be happy to pass on any knowledge I can. I kind of feel like 'long time listener, first time caller' with this post. Perhaps a few interesting facts to start things off:

1. The Pompeii multitracks still exist. According to Adrian, they were in his possession for a long time, and then Roger Waters asked for the tapes at some point, and still has them. Adrian believes they are in a vault somewhere in Los Angeles.

2. The main reason for the rear projection shots in Pompeii is that they ran out of film in Pompeii and the financiers would not spring for any more film stock. Adrian knew that once they got back to Paris and showed the investors the half-filmed versions of the songs that they'd have to put more money in to the project to finish the shoot, which they did.

3. Chit Chat With Oysters contains the only Pompeii outtake known to exist - a 4 minute continuous tracking shot around the band and amplifiers during the instrumental part of Echoes, Part 1. The shot moves in the opposite direction of the shot in the Pompeii film, which leads me to believe this is an alternate performance as well. Unfortunately this is the only one that was in the rushes, I believe Adrian had this footage made (converted from 35mm colour to 16mm black and white) for the short Pompeii reportage segment that was aired on French TV in 1972.
View attachment 291850
Click to expand...

curious, do you know if there are any plans to release 'live at pompeii' on blu-ray …. and perhaps do a new mix from the original multitracks, or release the quad mix?. as well, have the film presented in its original aspect ratio ? i hate to say i was not a fan of the director's cut dvd as i was so used to the VHS release. perhaps the director's cut and the earlier version could both be released, as well as this new documentary. a major issue with the NTSC dvd is that it had PAL speedup. not exactly chipmonk floyd but very noticeable to me 3 to 4% increase in rhythm and pitch. this would not be an issue releasing the film on blu-ray.

anyway thanks for sharing your wonderful story !

007james · Oct 15, 2018

Barnabas Collins said: ↑

Thanks for the info. I'd love to see an improved version of Pompeii on DVD or blu-ray. I didn't like the director's cut with all the additive outer space footage and the sound quality left much to be desired as well, IMO. This is probably the only concert film where I prefer watching the VHS tape.
Click to expand...

Isn't the vhs version on the directors cut dvd as an extra feature?

Hymie the Robot · Oct 15, 2018

007james said: ↑

Isn't the vhs version on the directors cut dvd as an extra feature?
Click to expand...

The problem with the DVD is the audio is dulby digital, 2.0.

misteranderson · Oct 15, 2018

Hymie the Robot said: ↑

The problem with the DVD is the audio is dulby digital, 2.0.
Click to expand...

Is it in Dubly?

Hymie the Robot · Oct 15, 2018

misteranderson said: ↑

Is it in Dubly?
Click to expand...

I still own the DVD but haven't played it since I found a quadraphonic film transfer which is a billion times better. Yes, the DVD is DD stereo only but it does have an option to play the version without the crappy added space footage. Not sure about the aspect ratio of the video...

mBen989 · Oct 15, 2018

Hymie the Robot said: ↑

I still own the DVD but haven't played it since I found a quadraphonic film transfer which is a billion times better. Yes, the DVD is DD stereo only but it does have an option to play the version without the crappy added space footage. Not sure about the aspect ratio of the video...
Click to expand...

The original cut of the movie (that is, no footage from Abbey Road) is 4x3 on the director's cut DVD.

It's been ages since I've seen it so I couldn't say if it had the PAL speedup issue as the director's cut.

mBen989 · Oct 15, 2018

Just dug out my copy of the DVD and...it does.

Dude111 · Oct 16, 2018

ridernyc said:

Yay another Pink Floyd documentary, I was worried they wouldn't hit quota this year.
Click to expand...

I have this concert on VHS and I love it..... One of thier BEST!!

quicksrt · Oct 16, 2018

mBen989 said: ↑

The original cut of the movie (that is, no footage from Abbey Road) is 4x3 on the director's cut DVD.

It's been ages since I've seen it so I couldn't say if it had the PAL speedup issue as the director's cut.
Click to expand...

I saw the film in the theater on original release - I think I recall the Abbey Road bits in there. That original showing must be considered the original cut of the film. No?

quicksrt · Oct 16, 2018

I have the laser disc (Pink cover) with the full frame picture and I guess the PAL to NTSC speed issue.

Is this the best picture of the correct edit and correct aspect ratio released thus far?

Dude111 · Oct 16, 2018

Wow they didnt convert it right buddy?? (Your NTSC is sped up a little?)

Im sorry to hear that..... I have a PAL/NTSC VHS copy of SONG OF THE SOUTH (1946) and thankfully its a direct copy from the PAL tape... NO SPEED UP...

quicksrt · Oct 16, 2018

Dude111 said: ↑

Wow they didnt convert it right buddy?? (Your NTSC is sped up a little?)

Im sorry to hear that.....
Click to expand...

I've read that it is, not noticed it myself. You mean this is news to you? It's been talked about for a decade or more now.

But it's the best looking transfer of the movie out there iirc.

quicksrt · Oct 16, 2018

Dude111 said: ↑

Im sorry to hear that..... I have a PAL/NTSC VHS copy of SONG OF THE SOUTH (1946) and thankfully its a direct copy from the PAL tape... NO SPEED UP...
Click to expand...

I got the Japanese laser of South Song!

mBen989 · Oct 16, 2018

quicksrt said: ↑

I saw the film in the theater on original release - I think I recall the Abbey Road bits in there. That original showing must be considered the original cut of the film. No?
Click to expand...

That footage was added later to keep it up to date.

BEAThoven · Oct 16, 2018

Pinknik said: ↑

Sounds like it. The band winds down to a full stop at the end of part 1. Why do that if it's one performance?
Click to expand...

In addition -- if I am remembering this correctly -- during part I, isn't Nick filmed with no sunglasses at the beginning, but then by some shots at the end, he is wearing sunglasses? Unless he had an "eyewear tech" at the time (), I'm guessing that there were a few edits from a few different filming takes... The audio could be an unedited take, though.

Rmono · Oct 16, 2018

Hopefully it will be at least as good as the VHS version, because that edited DVD was terrible. Without the "I'll have chips, toast, beans and a tea" and "You can trust us" -type parts, the movie is not quite as good. "Live At Pompeii" is the best of its kind, and it needs to be preserved properly. That said, I am all for more of the oysters footage.

Log in or Sign up

Restored Pink Floyd at Pompeii and new Adrian Maben Floyd documentary at Montreal Film Festival

Pinknik Senior Member

Hymie the Robot Forum Resident

Further Forum Resident

dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

Pinknik Senior Member

Lownote30 Bass Clef Addict

Lownote30 Bass Clef Addict

Big Pasi Forum Resident

carlfritz New Member

polchik Forum Resident

007james Forum Resident

Hymie the Robot Forum Resident

misteranderson Forum Resident

Hymie the Robot Forum Resident

mBen989 Senior Member

mBen989 Senior Member

Dude111 An Awesome Dude

quicksrt Senior Member

quicksrt Senior Member

Dude111 An Awesome Dude

quicksrt Senior Member

quicksrt Senior Member

mBen989 Senior Member

BEAThoven Forum Resident

Rmono Forum Resident

Share This Page

Log in or Sign up

Restored Pink Floyd at Pompeii and new Adrian Maben Floyd documentary at Montreal Film Festival

Pinknik Senior Member

Hymie the Robot Forum Resident

Further Forum Resident

dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

Pinknik Senior Member

Lownote30 Bass Clef Addict

Lownote30 Bass Clef Addict

Big Pasi Forum Resident

carlfritz New Member

polchik Forum Resident

007james Forum Resident

Hymie the Robot Forum Resident

misteranderson Forum Resident

Hymie the Robot Forum Resident

mBen989 Senior Member

mBen989 Senior Member

Dude111 An Awesome Dude

quicksrt Senior Member

quicksrt Senior Member

Dude111 An Awesome Dude

quicksrt Senior Member

quicksrt Senior Member

mBen989 Senior Member

BEAThoven Forum Resident

Rmono Forum Resident

Share This Page

Useful Searches